Sunday, June 16, 2013

Attack of the Animated Rip-Off Films!

When you watch/are aware of so many films, you notice patterns that other people may not.

Take, for example, the rut in recent years of films that are either blatant rip-offs, revamps and the like. Here are three examples from most subtle to least subtle.

We begin with Shrek. It was a massive hit and led people to go 'Let's make more films that riff on the idea of stodgy, old Fairy Tales.' Enter Hoodwinked.

The difference: millions of dollars more made for the Shrek films and twice as many sequels. Not necessarily *good* sequels, but sequels nonetheless.

Next, let's look at Madagascar and the much-less-seen The Wild.

In Madagascar, Zoo Animals get sent to the Jungle and can't cope with 'savage' life. In The Wild, 'savage' animals must go to the *Urban* Jungle and can't cope with modern society.

Seriously, it's the same movie- just backwards.

That brings us to the final case (and the reason I thought up this thing). Let's look at Planet 51 and Escape from Planet Earth.

In 51, an Astronaut lands on an Alien Planet & must team up with nice ones to escape the Military and return home. In Earth, *Alien* Astronauts land on Earth & must team up with nice humans to escape the Military and return home.

Seriously- it took you four years after seeing Planet 51 (which came out in 2009) to Write and Produce the same film...just with the roles reversed?!?

Now, if this was actually a series, it would be a neat reversal. It would still be a rip-off, but it could work. It's not like anyone would just make the same film twice though. Right, Mark Jones?